ZapperZ's and Philaduckia's Blog on everything Disney. We are Disney Vacation Club members, Walt Disney World Annual Passholders, and Disney Pin collector. All of them make for a very lethal combination! :)

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Avatar Land update

This article at Guide2WDW has an interview with Disney chief Bob Iger, in which Iger stated that Avatar Land might not be opened until 2015.

..."in all likelihood, we’re not going to open up Avatar Land until some
time in 2015." Disney's CEO reported that the design work on the
expansion to Animal Kingdom "is just beginning," which quieted online
rumors that the project had been cancelled altogether. According to
Iger, Walt Disney World guests might be able to visit the world of
Pandora in just 3 years.

As a personal opinion, I continue to think Avatar Land could be a mistake. It's too far from traditional Disney theming and, especially by 2015, will be based on a movie that will probably fade into obscurity. Basing a new WDW Land on a movie like this has many potential problems and seems like a very odd idea for Disney. You might point out that the Harry Potter attraction at Universal is based on movies, but Harry Potter is a mythic story of a hero's journey that is firmly embedded in modern culture and literature. Can the same be said for Avatar? But maybe Disney plans to go in a direction that ends up being interesting, positive and relevant. A Land that is inspired by some aspects of Avatar, but is not seemingly tied to the movie, might be a better approach. The Imagineers could take some parts of Avatar and add their own touches to make it fit into Animal Kingdom. We'll see what happens.